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New England Cable Sports Network
The New England Cable Sports Network, or NECSN is a regional cable TV network that covers the 6 New England states except Fairfield County, Connecticut & Southbury, Connecticut, a town in New Haven County, Connecticut which is covered by New York City sports networks. It's available on New England cable systems & nationally (in both SD & HD) through satellite TV providers. WMFL Corporation are the co-founders & owns NECSN. Although it mainly broadcasts non-national Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins & Boston Celtics games, NECSN also features minor league baseball, regional college sports including college hockey games on Friday nights, various outdoor shows & sports talk shows featuring the sports columnists of The Boston Globe. NECSN was, for a time, the New England carrier for SportsChannel's regional feeds & after that until early 2006, NECSN carried SCNews in the afternoon & overnight hours. NECSN has carried regional college ACC basketball games since Boston College joined the conference, including games from WMFL Corporation's sister network, SportsChannel. NECSN was launched as a premium channel, however it was moved to a basic cable in 2001, a successful model that has since been copied by the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles & others through their respective launch of new regional sports networks. NECSN has higher ratings in the New England DMR than SportsChannel & SCNew England, combined Red Sox coverage Boston Red Sox baseball coverage began in 1984 on the New England Cable Sports Network, airing mostly mid-week home games on the newly-formed pay cable channel. NECSN now carries full coverage (minus some nationally broadcast games on SportsChannel) of Red Sox games as well as in-depth pre- & post-game shows. Unlike previous seasons where it split coverage with over-the-air stations, it now broadcasts all games not on national TV, using the slogan "1 Nation, 1 Network". In 2006, it became the 1st network to broadcast all of it's MLB team's games in HD, available to cable & satellite providers throughout New England. During Red Sox Spring Training games, the press conference is conducted during the middle of the game & is shown LIVE in the corner of the screen Pre-game 1 hour before each Red Sox game, NECSN shows Red Sox Game Day LIVE, where the hosts provide highlights from the previous game, analysis on the upcoming team, player profiles, news from around the league & their "keys to the game". In 2005, NECSN introduced a segment before the Pre-Game Show called Friday Night Fenway, which on Red Sox Friday home games, showcases pre-game activities from inside Fenway Park. They have also included a Monday segment, Monster Monday, which airs every game day Monday, regardless of whether or not the game is @ Fenway Park. NECSN's studio shows were originally broadcast @ their Fenway Park studio. Since 2003, NECSN has broadcast their pregame show from Yawkey Way. NECSN still has the Fenway Park studio, but is rarely used on-air. It's however, used for weekly Red Sox interviews. In-game NECSN broadcasts the Red Sox games throughout New England & nationally (if they have & or carry the "MLB Extra Innings" package). NECSN broadcasts home & away games in both SD & HD Post-game After the game has finished, NECSN/W.B. Mason's Extra Innings & Granite City Electric's Red Sox Final go back into the studio where the host & 1 or more of the studio analysts from the pre-game show deliver a wrap-up of the night's game. They present highlights & statistics from the completed game & often have a member of the Red Sox team on hand to get their take on the game. This hour of coverage also focuses on the upcoming game as well as news from the league. The Post Game is usually not covered if the Red Sox are on the west coast, in those instances NECSN's SportsDesk immediately follows the game. Since 2003, NECSN has broadcast the postgame show from their HD studios. Previously, it had been broadcast from their Fenway Park studio Boston Bruins coverage NECSN's Bruins coverage began in 1984. They mostly covered home games on NECSN & road games on WMFL Corporation's sister station, WBNE 4. NECSN broadcasted the 1988 & the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals' in the United States. The Bruins lost to the Edmonton Oilers for a combined 8 games to 1. Game 4 in 1988 was moved to Northlands Coliseum due to a power failure @ the Boston Garden in the 2nd period Pre & post-game Bruins coverage has grown since NECSN took over exclusive rights (previously shared with WBNE 4). It now includes Bruins Pre-Game LIVE & Bruins' 4th Period LIVE, with the focus similar to the Red Sox shows, plus a weekly magazine show (The Instigators) & a highlights show (The Buzz) during the season In-game Every Boston Bruins game since the start of the 2006–2007 season, NECSN has been broadcasting the games in HD Boston Celtics coverage Boston Celtics basketball coverage began in 1985 on the New England Cable Sports Network, as NECSN added basketball to it's lineup. NECSN carries full coverage (minus some nationally broadcast games on SportsChannel) of Celtics games as well as in-depth pre- & post-game shows. Unlike previous seasons where it split coverage with over-the-air stations, it now broadcasts all games not on national TV. In 2006, it became the 1st network to broadcast all of it's NBA team's games in HD, available to cable & satellite providers throughout New England Pre-game 1 hour before each Celtics game, NECSN shows Celtics Pre-Tip LIVE, where the hosts provide highlights from the previous game, analysis on the upcoming team, player profiles, news from around the league & their "keys to the game". In 2005, NECSN introduced a segment before the Pre-Game Show called Friday Night Garden, which was on Celtics Friday home games, showcases pre-game activities from inside TD Garden. They have also included a Monday segment, Green Garden Monday, which airs every game day Monday, regardless of whether or not the game is @ TD Garden In-game NECSN broadcasts the Celtics games throughout New England & nationally (if they have & or carry the "NBA League Pass" package). NECSN broadcasts both home & away games in both SD & HD Post-game After the game has finished, Celtics Post-Tip LIVE & NECSN's Celtics Final go back into the studio where the host & 1 or more of the studio analysts from the pre-game show deliver a wrap-up of the night's game. They present highlights & statistics from the completed game & often have a member of the Celtics team &/or staff (espically Celtics' head coach Doc Rivers) on hand to get their take on the game. This hour of coverage also focuses on the upcoming game as well as news from the league. The Post Game is usually not covered if the Celtics are on the west coast, in those instances NECSN's SportsDesk immediately follows the game College Hockey coverage NECSN's Hockey East Friday Night showcases all 10 Hockey East teams including the National Champions: Boston University & Boston College. NECSN airs the Hockey East playoffs & the championship game as well. NECSN also airs the annual Beanpot Tournament in February. NECSN airs ACC college basketball & select college football games (from any conference, mostly ACC, BIG 10 & the SEC) as well Shows *''NECSN's SportsDesk, a 3-time daily show reporting on the teams & players who matter to New England viewers. It's generally shown in the evening after Red Sox or Bruins coverage. In the morning it's shown continually from 5:00-8:00 AM (to 9:00 AM on mornings when the Bruins or the Red Sox do not play) *''NECSN's SportsDesk, Lights Out, a weekly wrap up show that airs Sunday nights @ 10:00 PM EST & re-airs @ 11:00 PM EST). It generally covers all the top sports stories of the week *''The Ultimate Red Sox Show'', a weekly show recapping the week in Red Sox Nation *''The Buzz'', a fast-paced Top 10 countdown of all things Bruins *''The Instigators'', a show in which the latest hockey news is debated *''Charlie Moore Outdoors'', a fishing & outdoors show hosted by Charlie Moore *''The Red Sox Report'' *''Sox in 2''/''Bruins in 2''/''Celtics in 2'', a 2-hour replay of the previous night's game, usually aired @ midnight & early afternoon the next day (Not aired when the Red Sox play games on the West Coast) *''Breakfast with the Sox''/''Breakfast with the Bruins''/''Breakfast with the Celtics'', a 1-hour replay of the previous night's game. Originally aired when the Sox are on the west coast, later expanded to every morning after a game, expanded to include Bruins games in 2005 & the Celtics games in 2006 *''RemDawg Unleashed'', a half-hour of bloopers & funny moments from NECSN's Red Sox broadcasters *''Red Sox Classics'', old Red Sox games that have been deemed classic because of events happening in the game or someone achieving some kind of record are shown. Walk Off Sox is essentially the same program, but with a walk-off win by the Red Sox *''Bruins Classics'', shows old Boston Bruins games condensed to fit a 1-hour time slot *''Celtics Classics'', shows old Boston Celtics games condensed to fit a 1-hour (or a 2-hour) time slot *''Red Sox Hot Stove'' is a Red Sox show that is shown during the baseball offseason *''Pocket Money'' is a 30-minute show that takes place on the streets of Boston asking fans sports trivia questions *''Friday Night Fenway'', a 30-minute show before Red Sox pregame, that airs every Friday Night the Red Sox are home *''Monster Monday'', a 30 minute show before Red Sox pregame, that airs every Monday Night *''Friday Night Garden'', a 30-minute show before Celtics pregame, that airs every Friday Night the Celtics are home *''Green Garden Monday'', a 30 minute show before Celtics pregame, that airs every Monday Night in the TD Garden *''Minor League Baseball'', NECSN airs multiple Pawtucket Red Sox games each season, as well as Futures @ Fenway, a double header in which the PawSox & the Portland Sea Dogs play *''Little League Baseball'' in 2008 & 2009, NECSN aired the New England Regional Little League Tournament in August *'NOTE': Game Times of any of the Pro Sports Teams in Boston could play @ any day @ any time, so the schedules could change as the teams are being played & are broadcasted on NECSN *NECSN also airs ACC college basketball, college football, tennis, UFC Wired, Golf Destination, outdoor & fishing programming *NECSN also produces a 11:00 PM 1-hour sports wrap-up show for NECNC called NECSN SportsCentral (Mondays-Saturdays) & NECSN Sports Sunday (Sundays) Graphics NECSN has different-colored borders on it's graphics according to the event being aired. They include: red (Red Sox), silver (NECSN's SportsDesk), gold (Bruins), blue (NCAA) & green (Celtics, golf & tennis) NECSN has a sports ticker, called "The Tick" @ the bottom of the screen similar to the one found on NECSN's sister station, SportsChannel. It's on during :20/:50 intervals, only during a LIVE event NECSN-HD NECSN-HD is a 1080i HD simulcast of NECSN, featuring HD broadcasts of Red Sox, Bruins & Celtics games as well as other content such as NECSN's SportsDesk, The Buzz, Pocket Money & others. The HD service's early tagline was "Red Sox Tradition in HD" NECSN+ NECSN+ is an alternate cable channel, activated when the Bruins, Red Sox or the Celtics are playing @ the same time. Originally WMFL Corporation's sister station, NECNC was utilized for NECSN+ while other stations placed NECSN+ on an empty channel or a local cable access channel. 1 team will play on the main channel (if the Bruins are in the playoffs, they get priority for the main channel), while the other will play on NECSN+ See also * New England Cable NewsChannel External links